Magnetism
by Dr Spleenmeister
Summary: Chloe wasn't the only one to run into Clark when he was exiled to Metropolis. Lois inadvertently falls for Kal while Chloe tries desperately to restore Clark to normal, but typically when they reunite in Smallville Chloe is the only one who remembers.
1. Chapter 1

Chloe Sullivan chewed anxiously on a fingernail, watching from a shadowy corner as her best friend quickly and efficiently destroyed his life. She grimaced in disgust as he approached yet another girl from behind, took a possessive grasp of her hips and danced far too close to her. As she took a sip of her drink, Chloe wondered for the umpteenth time since running into him in Metropolis what had happened to make him into this caricature of himself. When she had last seen him in Smallville he had been acting out of character and now four weeks later he was barely recognisable; it was getting worse the longer he let it continue. This dark, mysterious man was a complete stranger wearing Clark's face. Since taking up residence in Metropolis he had given himself a new name: Kal; she supposed it was to avoid anyone who may come looking for him, and strangely it quite suited this new persona. Kal was blunt, arrogant, self-assured, he was literally the mirror-image of the Clark she knew and loved. Her face twisted again as she lingered on that particular thought; this new Clark had pretty much squished any remaining romantic feelings she had towards him, and she supposed she should be grateful. She had always known deep down that she never really stood a chance with Clark as anything other than a really good friend, at least this way she didn't sit home pining as he went galavanting off with Lana or whoever snagged him next.

"Hey, cuz!"

Startled from her funk, Chloe jumped a clear inch off the floor as her Metropolitan cousin snuck up on her yet again, damn but this girl was stealthy when she wanted to be. "Lois! Jeez ever consider taking up ninjutsu as a full-time career? You'd make a great reporter, you got that sneak thing down pat."

Lois screwed up her nose, "No thanks, sleaze makes me itch."

Chloe laughed, "Gee, thanks, I'll be sure to tell Jim you're allergic to us. Speaking of Jimmy, have you seen him? He went to get a drink about twenty minutes ago."

Absently shaking her head in a negative, Lois barely registered her cousin's growing concern at Jimmy's absence as her gaze was drawn over Chloe's shoulder to the dance floor where some dark-haired hotty was tearing it to shreds. He seemed to sense her gaze and looked over the head of the girl he was dancing with at her, flashing a row of perfect pearly whites as a slow grin split his face. He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, and Lois smirked, pushing gently past her cousin who was now busily scanning the room for her missing friend, "Excuse me."

As she made her way through the gyrating bodies to the guy with the smile, Lois felt the weirdest sensation of tunnel-vision; the other people in the room seemed to blur out of focus leaving only him clear in her line of sight. Her smirk widened as she got closer, he was just as hot up close; watching him dance she felt her jaw slacken slightly as his muscles rippled with each sensual movement, the sleeveless black shirt he wore doing nothing to hide them. His eyes seemed to glow with a weird pink tint although that was probably just a trick of the lights scanning over them. She got to within a foot of him and he turned, completely blanking the girl he had just been with - much to the girl's anger if the glare she threw at Lois was any indication - and slipped his hands around her waist, urging her to move with him. She did so without protest as she was caught off-guard by the shock that shot through her at his touch. Quickly shaking off her disconcertion at the sensation she pulled him close, gazed up into his eyes, wound her arms around his neck and enjoyed the feel of his body against hers as they ground to the intoxicating bass that trembled the floor.

* * *

Kal was bored. He was bored of the city, bored of this club and bored stiff by the girl he was dancing with - she had seemed so promising from behind, but when she turned round and flashed him a dazzling smile from a face that had been hit once too often with the make-up shovel it was too late to escape. His sensitive hearing picked up Chloe's surprised squeal from a corner of the room, he glanced over and was rewarded with a glimpse of the most gorgeous babe he'd ever laid eyes on - well, barring that Lana chick of course, she was beautiful, it was a shame she was so vapid. As he turned away and attempted to focus on the squirt he was dancing with, his mind wandered and compared Lana to this newcomer to the club; Lana _was_ beautiful, she was just a bit limp. Oh sure she kicked some ass every now and then, but she was just so needy. He didn't need a needy girl. He giggled and the squirt smiled up at him, clearly she thought she'd just done something funny. Once she turned away again he rolled his eyes and glanced back to the corner again where the new girl was talking to Chloe, she laughed at something his blonde amigo said and he smiled involuntarily in response. That was a real laugh, like the kind that made Chloe so attractive, one that showed all her teeth and narrowed her eyes to slits; it wasn't a laugh like the ones the rest of the women in this city used, the women who were afraid of getting smile lines or cracking their perfect make-up. This girl had an energy he could feel reaching out to him in tendrils from across the room, she was self-assured, happy with who she was - he looked at her again and smiled widely as he caught her eye, she smirked back and his heart thumped him in the chest - man, she was hot!

As she held his gaze he felt a warm pulse in his chest, and the strangest instinct to just latch onto her and never let go. The energy he could feel from her was becoming palpable, he could almost taste it, he had to sample it; raising his eyebrows at her in invitation, he licked his lips as she started to make her way towards him. At the last instant, he turned from the squirt and for a moment he could have sworn that the little thing had heat vision as it glared fire at the new girl.

Hesitating as long as he could, drawing out the delicious moment of anticipation before first contact, he reached for her and slipped his hands around her waist, sucking in a long, deep breath as her scent and presence surrounded him. As she pulled him closer and slid her hands up his front to slip into the hair on the back of his head, Kal let the breath out and fought to keep the shudder from his chest at the _rightness_ of holding her close like this. She gazed up into his eyes, her own smoking dangerously and he let the thick, deep music fill him as they moved together.

* * *

Chloe grunted as she struggled to lift Jimmy from where he'd slumped half-conscious against a wall. Pausing to blow her fringe from her eyes, she glanced over to the dance floor hoping to find Lois in order to enlist her help, and almost swallowed her tongue. Clark and Lois were... she hesitated to use the word 'dancing'; they were practically inside each other. They moved together slowly and sensually, their hands on one another, their legs intertwined in an intimate dance. They seemed oblivious to the lecherous stares they were attracting and almost unaware that there were even other people in the room. Standing up straight and relinquishing Jimmy for the moment, she watched as they devoured each other, their bodies touching in all the fun places, and she felt a smile creep across her face; they made a pretty hot couple and she knew that given the chance, Lois' fire would be the perfect foil for Clark's quiet dignity. She squinted at them and cocked her head, if she looked just right... it was almost as if... her eyes shot open and she grinned, it was almost as if the old Clark was peeking through the miniscule chinks in Kal's facade. This was a very good sign, there could be hope yet of recovering Clark.

Grabbing Jimmy by the arms she yanked him to his feet with a burst of renewed strength and frog-marched him for the bathrooms.

* * *

"You wanna get out of here?"

The soft brushing of lips to murmur in her ear sent tingles of promise down Lois' spine, and she was sorely tempted, but Lois Lane didn't do that. Not any more at least. Besides, she got the feeling that he did this a lot, he was clearly MetroClub's resident Lothario and she had no intention of being his next conquest.

She pulled back and tried with zero success to not get pulled into the depths of his eyes, "You don't even know my name."

"I don't need to," Lois cursed herself as she felt her mouth go dry at his husky, seductive whisper, "there's something about you. I can't explain it, it's like I'm drawn to you, like magnetism or something."

Lois grimaced, disappointed as her defenses slammed into place; she knew this was coming, "That sounds like a line if ever I heard one." She reluctantly pulled free of his embrace, ignoring the fact that had she not been so thoroughly screwed over in the past she would have taken him up on his offer in a heartbeat, "Good night, Lothario." Turning her back, she pushed through the throngs of people crowding the floor to try and find Chloe and Jimmy.

* * *

Kal was drowning. From the moment she'd first stepped into his arms the energy he'd felt from her had engulfed him and he was lost. Something otherworldly was at work here; he usually stayed well clear of that whole Fate thing but there was no other way to explain what he was feeling. A moment of panic gripped him as the song approached it's end: he couldn't let their meeting end at one dance, he had to have more of her, so he did something he'd never done; in the heat of the moment, his senses on edge from her proximity, desperate to keep her near, he asked her the question he swore he'd never ask a stranger.

She said no...

As he watched her leave, he blinked in wide-eyed shock as his heart fell into his shoes and he went cold. This wasn't right, surely she'd felt the pull between them too?

* * *

"Ready to go, Chlo?"

"Lois! I thought I'd lost you for the night, watching you and Clark was making me blush."

"You _know_ that guy? He's a sleeze ball!" Lois struggled to keep her heat from fluttering at the knowledge that Chloe was friends with the guy, that there was a chance she could see him again even though she'd just turned him down flat.

Chloe looked at her over Jimmy's head as if she'd grown a ginger head of her own, "Clark? He may have gone a bit off the rails of late, but he's no sleeze." She wedging a shoulder under Jimmy's armpit and held out her hand for her jacket, "Besides, he calls himself Kal these days, God knows why, though I guess it does give him a certain mystique."

Despite herself, Lois purred quietly, remembering the feel of him against her, "Hmm, you got that right."

After passing Chloe her jacket, Lois helped her to steady intrepid young photographer Mr. James Olsen as he staggered and swerved dangerously. As they wrestled him out of the door into the street, they jerked to an abrupt halt as they were faced down by a tall, dark, imposing figure. He locked his strangely pinky-green gaze squarely on Lois, his expression intense.

Chloe looked from Clark to Lois and back again, sensing the cuttable tension, "Uh, we'll give you two a moment alone. Lois, we'll be just around the corner if you need us." She led Jimmy around the corner out of the alleyway and into the main street.

Once the other two were clear, Lois broke the staring contest and took a step towards Kal, fiercely squashing the thrill she felt at getting close to him again, "What? One 'no' wasn't enough? You need to hear more? I can give you as many as you want."

He didn't blink, "Why?"

Lois frowned, "Why what? Why wouldn't I sleep with you? I don't even know you!"

"Why wouldn't you even give me a chance?"

She barked a laugh to cover the trip her heart gave at the unexpected pain in his voice, hiding behind her usual bravado, "A chance to what? To get me alone and 'do' me? Isn't that what you do, Lothario?"

He stepped closer, a hint of a scowl creasing his brow, "My name is Kal."

"That's not what I heard, _Clark._"

"Don't call me that!"

Lois jumped slightly at his yell but then smirked widely as she felt some sort of thread between them twang and thrilled in the knowledge that there was indeed an energy between them, "Touch a nerve did I? Still want me, Lothario?" She dropped into a self-defensive stance, "Come get it."

Kal's blood was ringing in his ears, he hadn't been this angry in a long time, who the hell _was_ this woman, what was she doing to him? "You're crazy."

She grinned, "Maybe. Well? What're you waiting for?"

He smirked, his eyes narrowing dangerously as the need to retaliate against this strange woman sang through him. He reached for her and she danced out of the way, grinning as he swiped for her again and missed by a foot. Mischief glimmered in his eyes and putting on a quick burst of super-speed, he blurred from her line of sight and re-appeared directly behind her. She whirled, shocked confusion creasing her brow and dropping her guard, giving him a precious second to swoop in and grab her by the upper arms. She quickly recovered and twisted from his grasp, delivering a quick knee to his gut for good measure. Kal stepped back, winded - the problem with the red K was that although it evaporated his inhibitions, it also caused his powers to fluctuate - and backed away as she crouched to sweep his legs out from under him. Another burst of speed enabled him to get close to her again and pin her arms to her sides as she pulled him backwards in an attempt to get free.

When her back bumped up against the brick wall of the alleyway pulling his body against hers, she immediately stopped struggling and gazed up into his eyes as his grip on her arms fell away to be replaced by a gentle, caressing hold.

Kal felt the air change again, the passion of the battle abruptly switched to a more personal passion as his hips unconsciously pressed gently forwards into hers. As he gazed down at her, losing himself again in her eyes - the first time this had ever happened to him in this city - he felt her hands reach up to touch his face and he closed his eyes to better enjoy the feel of her fingertips on his jaw. They glided up his cheekbones to his brow, down the elegant line of his nose and rested against his lips, he parted them slightly and kissed the fingertips touching him. The soft sigh that drifted to his ears made his heart sing and a smile tickled the corners of his mouth as he opened his eyes to gaze at her again.

A seconds blinding pain and he was on his knees, one hand reaching to protect his crotch, the other bracing his weight against the rain-slicked cobbles as he raised watery eyes to see her standing over him, the hands clenched defiantly on her hips at a stark contrast to the confused arousal shining in her eyes, "No chance, Lothario. Man, what a sleeze-ball." She wheeled on her heel and left the alleyway in search of her friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe watched in mild amusement as her cousin paced a bald patch into their living room carpet. Lois was angrily blaming all the city's ills on Clark Kent, her hands gesticulating wildly as she sequentially questioned his heritage, his sanity and lamented the loss of a 'truly hot guy' to the ranks of scum lining the bath that was Metropolis.

"I mean why is it that all the good-looking guys are either gay, married or complete assholes? It's not fair!" She finally ran out of steam and plopped down into a chair.

Chloe tried so hard not to laugh at her poor cousins grumpy little face, "Clark really made an impact on you."

"Yeah." She heaved a world-weary sigh, "I mean it's not just his looks; out there, on the dance floor he was like this... I don't know, like this weird presence or something, I couldn't keep away from him. When I looked into his eyes, and I mean _really_ looked, there was such a kindness there trapped behind the asshole front. God!" She surged to her feet again, "He's such an asshole!" She stomped off into the bathroom and Chloe finally gave into the urge to laugh,

"You like him!"

Lois' yelled response was muffled through the wall, "No, I really don't!"

"Lois, you only get like this when you like someone. You love the challenge!"

Lois stuck her head out of the bathroom door and moaned, "No, please, I don't want to like him, he's an asshole."

"I gathered."

Lois leaned against the door frame and bumped the back of her head repeatedly off it, "I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid, you just have lousy timing. Clark really isn't acting like himself right now, you're best to steer well clear of him until he sorts himself out."

"But what if I can't?" She frowned hopelessly, "He gave me this line last night about there being," she rolled her eyes and mimed inverted commas, "'magnetism' between us. At the time I thought it was a load of bull, just a line to get me into bed, but now I'm not so sure." She twiddled her fingers and looked at Chloe uncertainly, "What do I do?"

* * *

Letting herself in to Kal's apartment, Chloe headed for the kitchenette to make them both a coffee. Lois' unintentional influence on Clark last night had given her new hope that her best friend could be recovered - she had resigned herself weeks ago to the fact that he was both irretrievable and unwilling to even consider returning to Smallville, until now - so here she was, ready to start again on her quest of redemption.

Turning from the counter, two steaming cups in her hands, she approached the figure sitting on the window sill, still wearing the same clothes from the night before, his gaze fixed on the Metropolis skyline. Getting to within a few feet of him, she was relieved when he didn't grab and eject her like he had the last time she'd visited; she held out the coffee to him and held her breath, waiting for him to slap it from her grasp.

"Who is she, Chloe?" He accepted the cup with a grateful nod and sipped at the bitter fluid, not bothering to pretend that it burned.

Chloe breathed a silent sigh of relief: he was talking to her again, "My cousin, Lois. I'm staying at her place during my internship, you'd have met her sooner if you'd bothered to stop over." Chloe blew at her cup, she wasn't as heat-proof as he was.

"I've never felt anything like that _pull_ before; not even with Lana."

Raising her cup to her lips to hide her smirk - as much as she valued Lana's friendship she had always hated the way she led him on for so long - Chloe took a sip of coffee, "Well she is pretty special."

Kal surged to his feet and began pacing and Chloe had to fight back a snort of laughter at the parallel to Lois' agitated movements half an hour ago.

"She turned me down, called me names, kicked me in the balls and I _still_ can't get her out of my head." He scrubbed his free hand through his hair, "What the hell is wrong with me? I must be insane."

"Either that or in love."

He stopped and stared at her, horror all over his face, "Don't be ridiculous."

"How is it ridiculous? All the women you've hooked up with here are superficial, they don't really care about anything except the way they look in the club and in your bed."

Kal turned to the window again and sipped more coffee. He paused for a long moment before murmuring, "They never got that far."

"What?"

Kal scowled as he turned back to her, "I'm not a slut, Chloe. It has to be right, it has to be the right person."

Chloe stood and touched his arm with a smile, "Now you're sounding like yourself, Clark."

Kal's expression suddenly darkened and he grabbed her upper arm none too gently to march her to the door, "How many times do I have to tell you people? My name is Kal!" He opened the door and shoved her outside, coffee cup still clutched tightly in her hand, "Clark Kent does not exist any more." And with that he slammed the door in her face.

* * *

"Chloe, why are we back here? Can't we go somewhere else? What if he's here? Let's go to the dans-shak instead."

Back at Atlantis for the second night running, Chloe scanned the room as Lois whined in her ear, Jimmy had already made a bee-line for the bar. "That's the whole point, Lo. You got through to him last night, I want you to see if you can do it again."

"But I don't want to! He's a pig!"

Chloe muttered so Lois couldn't hear, "Even pigs deserve to be redeemed."

"What?"

"I said there he is!" She pointed to where Kal was dancing with another blonde floozy, a drink clutched in each hand as he swayed behind her. "Are you ready?"

Lois curled her lip in a grimace, "Oh all right. But you owe me, Sullivan."

As her cousin trudged off through the crowd Chloe grinned, Lois' reward would be more than she'd ever dreamed of.

* * *

Lois muttered under her breath about evil blonde witches and how she'd love to douse said witch with really _really_ cold water and then drop her out of a military chopper in the Arctic circle to fight with penguins and eskimos and... oh goodness...

She'd gotten close enough to her target to be able to examine him properly: he was dressed in relatively ordinary clothes, black jeans and T-shirt, but the trousers were riding low enough on his hips to give her a tantalising glimpse of a strong hip line, and the T was cut low so that she got a good eyeful of collar bone and pectorals. What the exposed flesh hinted at was further enhanced by the fact that the T-shirt was hugging his torso like a second skin, and as he turned and saw her, she could almost see his pulse jump in his throat. Swallowing back her own reaction to being this close to him again, she plastered a fake smile across her face and approached him.

"Hi! Just thought I'm come and... uh... apologise for last night. Sorry!"

He stepped close, into her personal space, and she had to swallow again as his scent drifted seductively around her. "No you're not. I was out of line. Here," he held out one of his drinks to her, "peace offering?"

She took it, raised a suspicious eyebrow, questioning whether he had an ulterior motive, and took a cautious sip. It had an unusually spicey flavour but it gave her limbs a lovely relaxed feeling and she felt her body slowly beginning to glow with subtle heat. She smirked up at him and drained the rest. Dropping the plastic glass to the ground, she looked up through her eyelashes at him, wound an arm around his waist - being sure to brush her fingertips over that delicious bit of exposed hip - and pressed her hips to his as her favourite dance track came on. As the people around them bounced and moved to the music, the fingers of her free hand went to his face and touched his wet, parted lips as his eyes darkened with desire.

Kal tried but couldn't slow his heart down. His blood pounded in his ears as Lois pressed herself into his arms. One of his hands was on her hip, the other her lower back as he pulled her even closer. He could feel his body reacting to her, he was losing control of it, and as her fingertips went to his lips, he couldn't stop himself slipping out the tip of his tongue to gently touch them. She gasped, her eyes glued to his tongue as it worked slowly with her digits. He took her hand, guided the fingers from his mouth to hers, and as she licked at his moisture left there, he could resist no longer and leaned down to capture her lips in a hungry kiss. When she moaned and grabbed at him to return the kiss with equal fervour, he swept her into his arms and made his way over to a darkened corner of the club. His sensitive nose filled with the heady smell of her excitement, making him dizzy as he set her down on her feet and pinned her to the wall, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as her hands slipped down to his buttocks to pull him even tighter against her.

"Take me, Kal."

Her heated whisper sent a pulse of heat straight to his groin which was already beyond excited, but he hesitated, the remnants of his teenage shyness peeking through the confident facade.

She seemed to understand, smirking gently up at him. She spun them so his back was to the wall and with a quick glance over each shoulder, she dropped to her knees in front of him, taking his fly with her. Kal's head slammed back hard against the wall as she went to work on him, foregoing any pleasantries and getting straight to work, making his knees buckle as her ministrations brought him close, so close; he arched, his head falling back and he cried out, the sound covered by the music as she quickly brought him to completion. He gulped down greedy lungfuls of air as Lois rose to her feet and pressed a soft, slightly salty kiss to his swollen lips.

"Lois!"

Kal turned his head to find Chloe glaring at them, her hands on her hips and he could almost see the cogs turning as she took in his flushed face as he stood slumped against the wall, and Lois' disheveled appearance as she wiped self consciously at the corners of her mouth. He could swear she was trying not to smile as she said in a semi-stern voice, "You better not let the bouncers catch you, that's all I'm saying. Lois, we need to go, Jimmy's barfing again; Kal, we'll see you later." And with that she grabbed her horny cousin by the arm and all but dragged her for the exit. Kal watched them go, still trying to catch his breath, and felt his body go warm again as Lois looked back at him over her shoulder, blatantly leered at him and licked her smirking lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe slapped her alarm clock so hard it flew off the night stand and bounced off the facing wall before rebounding and rolling under the bed. Groaning as she clambered out of bed, she grabbed her dressing gown, put it on upside down, cursed grumpily and tried again. Once she'd managed to get it on right and found her slippers, she staggered into the kitchen, shouting to Lois to get up. When she got no response, she growled, picked a cushion off the sofa with which to smite her lazy room mate and stomped into Lois' room.

Lois wasn't there. Her bed looked like it had been slept in, but it was cold and there was no sign of her. Yawning, Chloe wandered back into the living room and rang her cousin's mobile.

_"Hello?"_

"Lois, where are you?"

_"Oh hey, cuz. I woke up early and came over to see Kal." She lowered her voice to throaty whisper, "You should see him in his- hey!" _

There was the sound of rustling on the line and a girly squeal as the phone changed hands, _"Sorry, Chloe, Lois can't come to phone right now, we'll see you later!" _A click and the line went dead. Chloe frowned at the handset, concerned; what had gotten into her cynical cousin? First she couldn't stand Clark, then Chloe caught her down on him, and now she was at his apartment? Grabbing a handful of clothes she headed for the bathroom, something was not right here.

* * *

Lois was having the time of her life. Kal was a complete asshole and she loved it! He had a blatant disregard for other people's feelings and didn't give a crap what anyone thought of him; he did what he wanted when he wanted, he was exactly the kind of guy she usually steered clear of. But when he looked at her, a light lit up his whole face, making him appear innocent, as if being with her cleaned him of his sins. She walked out of the bathroom and leaned against the door frame, "What do you think?" He turned from his desk and she could have sworn that his eyes flashed red as a bolt of hunger raced across his face. Without uttering a word, he crossed the room to her and ran gentle fingers through her freshly dyed black and red hair before tangling them in the nape of her head and pulling her to him for a searing kiss. Drawing back to give them both chance to breathe, he whispered in her ear everything he intended to do to her and she giggled, feeling lightheaded yet heavy at the same time. Holding his gaze, she felt the mood shift as that innocence flooded his face with light again.

"I think I love you, Lois Lane."

Lois smirked dangerously, "No you don't, but you get ten points and a bonus for effort."

The innocence drained from his face to be replaced by dark, smirking hunger, "Bonus?"

* * *

When Chloe arrived at Clark's the door was locked. Pulling out her key she let herself in and headed for the sounds of giggled, murmured conversation; what she found almost made her lower jaw fall clean from her face. Clark and Lois were tangled in each other's arms in his bedroom, she was in her bra and jeans and he was in only the back trousers he'd been wearing the previous night. Lois' hair had been dyed black with a violent shade of red shooting back from her hairline into the dark mass, Chloe's eyes went to the door of Clark's en-suite to discover the dye bottles on the floor. Still in shock at the scene before her, Chloe's eyes swept the room and rested on a small, clear bottle sitting innocently on the night stand. Tearing her eyes away from the oblivious couple engaged in a fierce lip-lock, she tip-toed to the night stand to take a closer look at the suspiciously red fluid inside. It glowed as she got close and her eyes shot open as she realised what was in it.

Chloe had worked out Clark's secret within a few days of being in Metropolis, she didn't know why it had taken her so long, maybe the city had a clearing effect on her but she was now well aware of Clark's abilities and the effects of both green and red meteor rock on him. It would appear that Kal had drugged Lois with the same rock he was using to dampen his own inhibitions; Chloe whirled on the two, fire burning in her eyes at what he had done, but before she could even open her mouth to yell, a man-shaped blur slammed into the apartment, snagged Kal from Lois' arms and sent himself and Kal smashing through the tenth-storey apartment window. As Lois blinked in dumb shock, Chloe raced for the destroyed window and just managed to catch a glimpse of the two men fighting on their way to the ground. Whoever this newcomer was, he had Clark's speed; he'd better have Clark's invulnerability or he'd be pavement-pizza on impact.

Not wasting another precious second, Chloe ran from the window, grabbed Lois, thrust a T-shirt at her and dragged her from the apartment, taking care to smash the bottle of Red-K serum on her way out.

_

* * *

THREE MONTHS LATER_

Chloe stepped out of her Beetle and took a long, deep lungful of clean, Kansas air; it felt like so long since she'd been home.

Kal had vanished after the incident in his apartment and once the Red-K was out of Lois' system she had no memory of what had happened or of even meeting Kal. Deciding that it would raise too many awkward questions to tell her cousin everything, Chloe had to satisfy herself with giving Lois some bull story about forty eight hour flu wiping out her short term memory; the drastic hair-dye job took a little more explaining. Scratching her head in confusion, Lois had accepted the answer to her questions and did the difficult thing for her of taking it easy for a few days. When Chloe had informed her of her decision of returning to Smallville once her internship was up in a few days, Lois had agreed to go with her for a few weeks to help her find her feet without her dad - Mr. Sullivan had decided to stay in a Metropolis suburb with his new girlfriend now that the drama with Lionel Luthor was over.

Chloe smiled as her mobile vibrated in her pocket - she'd barely been home a few hours and it was already ringing. Fishing it out, she pressed the accept button.

_"Chloe, it's Lois. Man you weren't wrong, this town is so weird; I found a naked, crazy man who'd been hit by lightning or something in a field and took him to the hospital. He kept muttering about waiting for the sign, must be some religious nut, anyway I'm on my way over with the rest of the stuff, see you soon!"_

Chloe grinned as Lois hung up without even waiting for a response, it was great to have her back to her usual, grouchy self. Opening the boot of her car her thoughts wandered over what Lois had said about the man she ran into, she had missed her wall of weird and this certainly seemed to qualify. Speaking of weird, as soon as she'd unpacked she'd go and see the Kents, see if they'd heard anything from or about Clark.


	4. Chapter 4

Driving over to Chloe's with the remaining few boxes of stuff from their apartment in Metropolis, Lois tossed her cell phone back into her handbag and thought back to the crazy naked man she'd picked up from the middle of the now decimated cornfield. Once she'd gotten over the initial shock of finding a man in the middle of a lighting bolt impact site she noticed that although he seemed to be suffering from amnesia he wasn't disorientated, which was odd. Fighting to keep her sight line on his face and not... elsewhere... she also noticed his eyes; bright, clear green that stared unblinkingly at her. There was such a sense of purpose and confidence behind those eyes that the fact that he was buck naked in the middle of a field paled into irrelevance. Now, with the endless fields of corn stretching out to infinity on either side of her, Lois felt a strange, burning desire to know what that purpose was.

Pulling up in front of their new home a few hours later, Lois threw her poor, savaged vehicle into park and bounced out of the cab, stretching her neck as Chloe came out to help her unload.

"Did you remember everything this time?" Lois nodded and Chloe smirked, "So this naked guy you found, was he hot?"

"Chloe, the man was insane, I really didn't notice."

Chloe snorted, "Yeah right. You know I really don't buy into your plan to find the nerdiest guy in Metropolis and do two point four; my Lois would never settle for anything so bland."

"The hot ones are always assholes, this one was probably no different."

A victorious grin split Chloe's face, "Aha, so he _was_ hot."

Lois stuck out her tongue and turned as she heard footsteps on the driveway. Turning with her, Chloe laughed as she saw Lana approaching and grabbed her friend in a hug. Once the introductions were made, Chloe and Lana slipped into conversation about one of their other friends leaving Lois free to continue unpacking.

"So did you hear? Clark turned up, Mrs Kent is practically screaming with joy!"

"That's _great_!" Lois paused in her unloading as she picked up the subtle manic note in her cousin's voice, "How - how is he?"

Lana seemed oblivious to Chloe's wide-eyed state, mistaking her panic for concern, "That's the bad part; he has amnesia. The hospital said that a girl from the city brought him in after finding him in Schuster's field."

"Really?" The faked innocence in Chloe's tone perked Lois' ears, as did the fact that it was clearly her crazy, naked man they were talking about. She frowned, unseen by the other two as Chloe asked, "Have you seen him?"

"Yeah," Lana's voice turned contemplative and Lois turned to rejoin them, curious about what had happened, "It was really weird. I know they say that amnesiac people can be different to the person you know, but this Clark was so different it was like he was someone else." Her voice turned sad, "He didn't recognise me."

As Chloe moved to comfort her, Lois blurted out, "Did he say anything about a sign?" Lana looked at her like she was an alien and shook her head. Once the two friends had spoken a while longer and made plans to meet up, Lois leaned against the car as Lana left, one finger gently tapping against her lips in thought.

"Oh no," Chloe quirked a half smile at her contemplative cousin, "I know that look."

"I think we should pay Clark a visit, you know, to see how he's getting along."

"Yeah right. This is your latent journalist sticking her head out, you want to see what the deal is."

"Well, maybe just a little. Come on, we have a right to know! You're his friend, I found him naked in a field, I think that gives us superior rights in fact." She folded her arms and looked condescendingly at her cousin.

Chloe smirked and picked a box up from the boot of the car, "Alright, I'm dying to know what happened, let's get this stuff inside first." She got to within ten meters of the house and stopped dead, "Oh my God... Lois, you've beaten both me and Lana to it: you've seen Clark naked!"

* * *

Kal El stood in Clark Kent's loft and took in all the meaningless junk his former self had collected. Football trophies, photographs, drawings, endless self-help books; all junk. The only thing that caught his attention and held it was the large telescope set up by the window. Bending to peer into it, he moved it until he found the gaseous mass where Krypton used to be. Straightening, he cast his gaze to the beauty of the sunset - always such a breath taking view from here - and sighed gently, he would never see his home again. Hearing footsteps on the creaky, inefficient wooden steps leading up from the barn, he turned and watched two women enter the space. They stopped and eyed him warily and he cocked his head, there was something eerily familiar about the taller of the two beside the fact that he had met her earlier in the day. Taking a few steps towards the silent pair, he approached the familiar one and let his gaze trail over her form, taking in her clear, electric eyes, the pulse fluttering in her neck, her pleasing form and... he inhaled and felt his heart skip a beat - and her scent. Perplexed by his body's strange reaction, he took a step back and spoke to the blonde, "Who are you?"

The blonde seemed to weigh her words carefully before speaking, an admirable trait, "I'm Chloe Sullivan and this is Lois Lane. I'm a friend, and Lois... well you already met Lois." The tall one waved briefly, a wry smile quirking her lips.

Kal El noted the blonde's tone, "You sound amused, Chloe Sullivan; why is this?"

Lois snorted, "'Why is this?' Where are you from, Mars?"

"No, I am Kryptonian."

Chloe's eyes widened as Lois' eyebrow raised dubiously, "Ri-ight, is that what they call your cult? The Kryptonians?"

"Lois!" Chloe elbowed her in the ribs, "Look, why don't you go back to the house and ask Mrs Kent for a drink? I'm parched."

"Okay..." With one last, weirded out glance at Clark, Lois did as she was told.

Finally left alone with him, Chloe gently guided him to sit on the sofa with her, "You were gone a long time, Clark. What happened?"

He glared at her, "I am Kal El of Krypton, Clark Kent is dead."

Chloe blinked in shock as he declared death on himself, what the hell had happened to him? "Clar - I mean, Kal El, what actually happened? Where have you been all this time?" Once she told them that she knew Clark's about Clark's abilities, Mr and Mrs Kent had told her what little they knew about what had happened, but Chloe was convinced that she could get him to open up to her.

"I have been with my Father."

"Your father? Mister Kent? But I thought -"

"Jor El, my Father. His will was preserved for me in the ship I was sent here in. I was to return to him and receive his teachings when I came of age."

Making a mental note to ask the Kents all about this alien business at a later date, Chloe pressed on, "The last time I saw you, uh, I mean Clark, he was being thrown from a multi-storey building by someone like you."

"Yes. That was the messenger sent by my Father to retrieve me. Clark Kent had been so corrupted by the humans of this planet that Jor El could sit by no longer and sent for me. Clark Kent resisted my Fathers will but he has now been purged. I am Kal El of Krypton, I am merely awaiting the sign."

"What sign?"

"You wish to know why I was absent for so long, Chloe Sullivan; I was taken from this place to be cleansed, to have the humanity that had made me weak washed away. I was returned here by my father with a purpose. I am awaiting the sign that will tell me what that purpose is."

"O-kay. Well maybe I can help you to find the sign." She had no idea what he was on about, but she needed to keep him talking.

Kal El rose to his feet, "Yes. Clark Kent trusted your intuition, Chloe Sullivan; we have no use for intuition on Krypton but we are not on Krypton now, you could be useful."

"Gee, thanks."

"Your companion, this Lois Lane, I would ask that you keep her away from me if we are to seek the sign together."

"Lois? Why?"

He looked at her, his eyes hard, "She provokes an irrational response in me, I cannot be distracted from my purpose in this way."

Chloe tried and failed to fight back a smirk, "Didn't you have _distractions_ on Krypton?"

If she didn't know her friend's face so well, she would have missed the fleeting instant of embarrassment that chased across his lips, "Yes."

"That's it? 'yes'?"

"Yes."

"Alright." She stood, successfully keeping her face smirk-free this time, "I'll be back in the morning, Lois Lane-free."

She could have sworn that he sighed softly in relief, but it was probably just a trick of the setting sunlight, "Thank you."


	5. Chapter 5

Kal El stood alone in the Kowachi caves, his neck craned as he took in the story scribbled on the walls. What was written had mostly come to pass, there were a few parts that had yet to happen and the exact meaning of these drawings was as ambiguous to him as it was to the countless scholars who had studied them before. Although he understood the Kryptonian words spread over the walls, the accompanying paintings had been rendered by Oracle-Earthlings - who were at times irritatingly prone to artistic license - and as such the two did not mesh as clearly as he would have liked. His brow creased as his gaze settled yet again on one painting in particular; on the opposite wall to the painting of him and his sworn enemy there was one that seemed to represent some sort of pairing. The Kryptonian glyph next to it was the word for 'Destined', but what sort of destiny it could allude to he did not know; it did however make him very uncomfortable - it most likely meant that it involved an Earthling, something he was not at all happy with. He sat down on a smooth stone to more comfortably examine the painting and thought back to what his father had let slip while he was being cleansed: Jor El had been to Earth before Kal El was born and, while here, had become deeply involved with a human woman. He surged to his feet and began to pace, one hand going to his jaw in agitation as he contemplated the situation he was in. Lois Lane had been at the Kent farmhouse earlier in the afternoon to inform Martha Kent and himself of Chloe Sullivan's disappearance, and while he had been concerned at the loss of his only known guide to finding the sign, he had been completely and utterly distracted by the Lane woman. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she waved her hands animatedly and spoke almost faster than he could follow, and he realised with a cold bolt of horror that he was displaying the same signs of infatuation that his father had when he had been exiled here. Kal El stopped pacing and sank back down onto the rock as another disturbingly contradictive thought weaved a vein of doubt through his mind: why would his father send him here to overthrow the people of this backward planet if he had seen enough good qualities in them to fall in love with one? He scrubbed his hands through his hair and stopped just as quickly as he realised he was falling back onto his old human habits. Sensing a presence behind him, he turned and frowned as his heart did that annoying flip-flop it had taken to doing whenever _she _was around him.

"Hey. Whatcha doin'? Chloe isn't going to mysteriously appear down here; let's go." She jerked a thumb in the direction of the entrance.

"What do you think this means?" He indicated the painting he had been studying so intensely, slightly curious at his own behaviour. What concern was it of his that this little Earth woman could interpret anything from this legend?

"I don't know and I don't care. My cousin is missing and all you can do is sit in a musty cave staring at some ancient scribbles drawn by men in loin cloths? Come on let's go." She shifted her weight from foot to foot, clearly eager to begin the search.

"Please. I would like your opinion. Then I will find Chloe Sullivan." The need to know what she made of the painting was making him nervous; what if she saw what he thought he had already interpreted?

Lois cocked an eyebrow at his hero complex and stepped forward to accept his strange request. Spreading her feet and folding her arms across her chest, she looked up at the painting and tilted her head to one side, "I dunno, I kinda studied runes and stuff one summer... um... destiny? Looks like some kind of epic destiny to me, at least as epic as you can get with wet chalk and a tiny brush. I," she turned to him to find him staring at her, "...uh, Kal El?"

Kal El's blood thundered in his ears as she - with absolutely no knowledge of the context of any of these images - confirmed what he had already made out from the archaic paintings. His destiny lay here, on Earth, inextricably paired with someone who resided here. Was it her? Or maybe the Sullivan woman? Maybe it was someone he was yet to meet? He turned and strode from the cave, his stony visage masking the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions swirling through him as he swept past Lois Lane, not bothering to check she had left with him. He had to find Chloe Sullivan, she would be able to help him unravel this rapidly souring riddle; he was sent to conquer wasn't he? Now it turned out that he may have been sent here for another purpose altogether. His frustration fuelled his pace, he had to find her!

"Okay, so we're leaving..." Lois struggled to keep up with his long, determined stride as he all but raced from the cave. Chloe had mentioned that he spent an awful lot of time down here before he went missing although she had no idea why. The look of shock and horror on his face as Lois had given him her interpretation of the painting had made her blink in surprise; what was so damn important about those drawings?

Kal El returned to his old loft after a mostly fruitless day of searching. It turned out that having super powers didn't make trying to find a missing person any easier. He was fast - when Lois was not around to see, for some reason he thought it best for her not to see him use his abilities - but Chloe Sullivan was so well hidden that even he couldn't find her. He sank down onto the worn, old sofa and picked up a photograph of Clark Kent with his adoptive parents and the girl he now knew to be Lana Lang. Looking at the photo of the girl, he felt nothing; no twinge of recognition, no glimmer of emotion, nothing. Switching to the photo of the Kents, he felt a faint, almost phantom warmth spread through his chest; clearly he had cared deeply about these people. Putting down the frames, he stared out of the open window at the setting sun and dwelled on this Lois Lane he had spent the majority of the day with. Just the thought of her filled him with a turmoil of emotion; she stirred more elemental reaction from him than anyone he could ever recall meeting. Her persistence played on his nerves, her feisty go-get-them attitude amused him, when she smiled at him - a real smile, not one loaded with sarcasm as seemed to be her trademark - his heart felt like it had stopped, her knack for getting herself into trouble exasperated him and her eagerness to fight with him made him insanely angry. And yet, all this considered, he was drawn to her, more than he had ever dreamed possible to be drawn to anyone. Had Krypton survived, he would have been betrothed from a very young age to a female he had never met from a powerful family, such was the way of the ruling houses on his planet. But here he was free to be attracted to whomever he wished and he knew he was falling into the same trap his father had.

He fingered the small, metal pendant that he had found in the cave after returning there much later in the day. The journal pendant was shaped in the crest of the house of El, and as he clenched it loosely in his fist he felt his father's memories flow through him. A moment later he opened his eyes with a frown, even more confused than ever; Jor El had indeed fallen in love with an Earth woman and then returned to Krypton. He had precious few memories of his father, but he knew that he was no tyrant; he was a good man, a seeker of knowledge and enlightenment for his people. Kal El asked himself again, why would such a man send his only son to the place he held such fond memories of only to destroy it? It made no sense. His mind drifted back to Lois again and his heart fluttered; scowling, he ruthlessly thrust the feelings aside, he had to clear up the confusion that was plaguing him.

Lois scrubbed at her shower-wet hair, she could really have used a nice, hot, bubbly bath after the hellish day she'd had with Kal El, but she refused to allow herself such luxuries until she knew that Chloe was safe. This Kal El character was a strange one; from what Chloe had told her Clark Kent was a sweet, brainless farm boy with country ideals and an unhealthy penchant for plaid. But this man was so completely different from the one that Chloe had described that she had to wonder if he was in fact the same person. Kal El was driven, of that there was no doubt, but he had such a darkness about him that Lois couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him to make him that way. The weird thing was that she seemed to be able to really draw him out of the dark shroud he had slung around himself without even trying. She would come up with a possible lead on where Chloe could be and instead of glaring at her for her stupidity like she expected, he would look at her and really listen, take in what she had said and follow her as she lead the way. At one point she'd gotten them into a spot of bother with an alley gang in Metropolis, but he'd been there, protecting her although he had said himself after that he couldn't fathom why he'd felt the need to keep her safe. After that he had looked at her oddly for the rest of the day, like he knew something awful about her. She shuddered, she really couldn't figure him out; he was an enigma and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to rip through the mystery that surrounded him to get to the person beneath or just run from him until she could run no further.

Kal El bolted upright in bed covered in a cold sweat; his breath came in short, rapid pants, and his heart beat a tattoo against his chest as he struggled to release his bare legs from the sheets that had tangled around them. A moments fidgeting and he was free of the clinging, sweat-drenched fabric; he staggered out of bed and to the bathroom where he steadied himself against the sink and stared at his refection in the mirror. His skin was flushed, his eyes dilated and his hair hung loosely around his forehead as he struggled to fight the burning feeling that had pooled deep in his belly and groin. The dream had been intense and most disturbing in its heat of passion.

He and Lois...

He squeezed his eyes shut, banishing the images and phantom sensations from his mind and body; he would NOT make the same mistake as his father!

The following morning, Lois - after half an hours increasingly frustrated amnesiac-hunting - found Kal El back in the same place they had started the previous day.

"Why are you back here?" Angry at his apparent lack of urgency in finding Chloe, she missed the stiffening of his spine at the sound of her voice, "Is this how we're going to begin the search each day, by staring at some dusty old rocks?" She looked up at the painting they had stood contemplating the day before and muttered, "Stupid dream, like _that_ could ever happen." Realising that he wouldn't be leaving the cave any time soon, she turned sharply on her heel and left; she'd probably do better on her own anyway.

Once his heart rate had returned to somewhere approaching normal, Kal El removed the octagonal disc of Kryptonian metal from his pocket and turned it over in his fingers. Holding it out in his open palm, he watched as it hovered for a second before slamming into the middle of an octagonal series of glyphs on the wall. The glyphs lit and he reached out to touch the three that would give him access to the room he had deduced was beyond the seemingly solid rock face. As the rocks parted for him, he held out his hand and the disc freed itself from the wall in order to return to him. Approaching the small dias in the middle of the small room, he read the Kryptonian engraved upon it and slipped the disc into a slot on the top. The cave disappeared in a blur around him and as he felt the familiar tingle of his fathers method of transporting him; a smile crossed his face, he would finally get the answers he had been searching for!

When he rematerialised inside an icy, crystal edifice, he approached the bank of crystals he knew would be waiting for him, but before he could touch any of them a feminine voice spoke,

"So there you are, my son. I had wondered when you would arrive."


	6. Chapter 6

Kal El froze as he realised that the words he was hearing were Kryptonian. He slowly turned to face the source and a deep frown furrowed his brow, "Chloe Sullivan? How did you get here?"

"No, Kal El." A beautiful, calm smile spread across the woman's face and she reached her hands out towards him, "I am Lara Jor El. I am your mother."

Kal El didn't move, his face falling blank. "My mother is dead."

"Yes, but like your father my memories were preserved in the ship we sent you here in. When this Earthling came across the ship and touched it, I was transferred to her. So here I am, to help you on your quest."

Kal El let a frown creep across his face, "What quest?"

"Your father and I sent you to this planet to protect it. You- "

"Protect it?" Kal El took a threatening step towards her, "I was taken, _taken!_ and cleansed of the human nature I had been instilled with in order to make me stronger, purer, a better destroyer." He straightened, imposing in his height over her, not feeling the confidence he injected into his tone, "I was made into the ultimate purifier for Krypton. _You_ seek to defy my father, to soften me, distract me from my true purpose."

She shook her head, "No, Kal El. We weren't cleansing you, we were _educating_ you; your emotions were forced into a kind of stand-by so you could better absorb what you were being taught about Krypton by psionic link with the technologies within the fortress in which you stand. Your body never left Smallville, it was merely shifted slightly out of phase so your mind could be accessed by the memory banks here, and when the one with a strong destiny-pull came into the vicinity of where you were being held you were jolted back into phase with a huge energy discharge. Because your teaching was not finished, your mind's connection to your body is incomplete, that is why you feel so little."

Kal El's brow rippled, no longer attempting to cover the confusion he was feeling, "But this Lois Lane... she stirs such strong emotions in me, how can what you claim be true?"

Lara smiled, "Lois Lane is the one who disturbed your training, my son."

Kal El staggered back with shock, his eyes wide, "But that would mean..."

"That her destiny is entwined with yours. Only one with such a strong claim to your future would be able to disrupt the phase in that way."

Kal El sank down onto a crystal bench, his mind swimming with questions, "Why send me to Earth?" He looked up at her, "Is it because father..."

"Fell in love here?" Lara smiled again, "Don't be afraid to say it, my son, your father came to this planet a very long time before we met. He always held a special place in his heart for this planet and her people, so when the time came for us to send our baby boy to be protected and to in turn protect, there was really only one place we could ever send you."

Kal El scrubbed a hand through his hair, not bothering to supress the human habit this time, "Can you restore me?"

"Yes."

"I'm not... I am not sure I want to be restored." He stood again and faced his mother in the body of his associate, "Without emotions I could truly be a protector. No weakness, no doubt, complete clarity of vision."

"No happiness, no love, none of the muddle that can make life so interesting."

"I have a duty; to protect, that is why you sent me here, surely it is a small sacrifice to only live half a life in order to help so many."

"Kal El," she put a hand on his chest, "Clark. You were not sent here as punishment. If you refuse to be restored you will lose the very essence of what makes life worth living, you will never feel the joy that helping others brings, you will never feel love. You will be an automaton. Think carefully and choose wisely, my son. You must be restored within the next few days or the process will be irreversible. I shall return Chloe Sullivan to you now. Use the transport control over there to return to Smallville; I beg you not to spoil the gift of life you have been given, Kal El. Remember that your father and I sent you here in love, not sacrifice." With one last, lingering look at her son, Lara Jor El vacated the body of Chloe Sullivan and sent it pitching forwards into the arms of the Earths greatest saviour.

Lois paced Clark's loft while chewing violently on several fingernails. Kal El had been gone all day and she was starting to worry, yeah he was strong but he was also still amnesiac and she was terrified that he'd run off and left her with the seemingly insurmountable task of finding her lost cousin. Throwing herself down onto the worn sofa, she grabbed a pillow and squeezed it, wondering at her odd behaviour. What did it matter to her if Kal El had wandered off somewhere? All he did was wind her up and rub her the wrong way... And make her tummy go all funny... She thought back to the dream she'd had the night before and squirmed as it brought back the phantom sensations of the most real-feeling sex dream she'd ever had. She could still feel his hands on her body, his lips crushed against hers as they frantically made love over and over, as if the world was going to end.

She heard a sound in the main barn and jumped, embarrassment flooding her at the thought of being caught fantasising about 'Kal El the Ice King'. He came up the stairs and she shot to her feet, bravado masking the relief at seeing him safe and in one piece, "Where the hell have you been?"

He looked at her and seemed to sniff, a slight frown wrinkling his brow, "You are aroused."

"_What_?!" Lois clamped her thighs together and attempted to look nonchalant and angry at the same time, "I am not!"

His frown turned quizzical, "I am also aroused." He looked at her again and searched her eyes as he began to move closer to her, "Yet I should not be. How do you do this to me, Lois Lane? I feel nothing towards anyone else, but when you are near me I feel strange, like there is something missing between us. It is as if I have no control over what little emotion I have."

"R-Really?" Lois cursed her voice as it squeaked, damn, was it getting hotter in here? She moved away from him to stand by the open window where the cool night air was flooding through.

"Yes." Oh no, he was coming towards her again, "I am beginning to understand what she meant." His voice lowered to a murmur as he drew dangerously close and reached out a hand to stroke her cheek, "What is it about the women in this town that teaches Kryptonian men so much?" He leaned down and brushed a chaste kiss across her lips, "I must go, Lois Lane." He pulled back reluctantly, "Chloe Sullivan is safe so you need not worry. When I next return I will be different." He smiled with a softness she didn't understand, "I found my sign."

Lois' body was warm, flushed from the fleeting contact with his lips; her heart pounded as he drew back and told her he was leaving. As he began to turn from her, he abruptly stopped and swung back, capturing her face between his hands and crushing his lips to hers, burning the feeling of her into his memory. He pulled back enough to whisper, "Lest I forget," then kissed her again.

He left without looking back, hoping that he would remember something of what had just happened and his revelation about Lois Lane.


	7. Chapter 7

As Chloe ascended the creaky old steps to Clark's loft, her gaze drifted around the room, settling briefly on each item that held some sort of meaning for her friend. Her heart hammered in her chest as her gaze finally came to rest on the tall figure silhouetted against the warm colours of the Kansas sunset streaming through the open window. His stance was different from when she'd last seen him in the same place, his spine was straight instead of stooping self-consciously, his shoulders were back and his head was up. Standing at his full height he was an impressive specimen, she swallowed, that was a distinctly Kal El stance, was Clark really back?

She cleared her throat and he tilted his head slightly before slowly turning to face her. His expression was intense, his green eyes gaining an eerie glow in the low light as he looked at her. He held out a hand to her and she went to him, taking the offered hand and allowing him to draw her to the window to gaze out with him at the beauty of the horizon.

"I remember, Chloe." His voice was low, contemplative, "I remember everything: Metropolis, Kal, Kal El, the fortress," his eyes closed briefly, "my mother..." He gazed down at her, his brows drawn together, "I'm not the monster I was convinced Jor El wanted to make me. They trained me, Chloe; my parents sent me here as a protector," his brows pinched, "They prepared me but I'm still scared; it's such a huge responsibility, what if I mess up? And... there's something else." He squirmed uncomfortably and at that point, Chloe knew he was back, "As Kal El I had such complete clarity of vision, my purpose was so clear to me."

Chloe gazed up at him, searching the new depths to his eyes, "And now?" She held her breath, praying that he wasn't going to say he was still hung up on Lana, that she was the one clouding his judgement.

He grimaced slightly, "Now, I have a whole new problem. While Kal El was at the forefront of my personality I kept having flashbacks of what happened in Metropolis... with Lois." He returned his gaze to the darkening skyline, "How do I face her knowing what I know, knowing what we did?"

"You could tell her."

"She'd never believe me, she doesn't even know me, Chloe, she knows Kal El. As Kal I lusted blindly after her, as Kal El I disliked and didn't understand the effect she had on me; she's never known me as me, how am I supposed to tell her th-that I... that..." He stammered and trailed off and Chloe's eyes widened at what he was implying.

"Oh my God, you mean-?"

He nodded sadly, "According to my mother it was inevitable, it wasn't coincidence that Lois was the one who drew me back here." He sighed heavily and stepped away from the window, Chloe watched him go as he sank down onto the sofa, "How are we going to explain all this to her? She'll think I'm schizophrenic, she'll never see me the way I see her; she already dislikes me as it is."

Chloe nibbled on her lower lip in thought for a long moment before dropping a bomb on him, "This is going to sound a little crazy, Clark, but if you trust what your birth parents have told you then maybe you should-" she trailed off as his gaze met hers again, the hopelessness and loneliness there spurring her on. She joined him on the sofa and continued softly, "maybe you should tell her _everything_." His eyes were thoughtful, a distinct change from what his reaction would have been before this all began, "Lois is pig-headed and stubborn as a mule but she is also the most reliable, trustworthy and surprisingly insightful person I have ever known. You won't have to worry about keeping your abilities secret from her, you'll have a fresh start with someone you won't have to lie to and I know she'd never betray you by revealing you to anyone."

Clark was thoughtful, "What if she freaks out? Being rejected by Lana was the one thing that scared me more than anything, that's one of the reasons I never told her."

Chloe's voice was soft, "She's not Lana, Clark. That's the point."

Lois was pacing again.

She cursed the nervous habit but she couldn't help it, Chloe was on her way over with the newly-restored Clark Kent which shouldn't have bothered her, except that she'd had another dream about the man she'd technically never met. The dream had been just as blindly passionate as the last, but this time there had been flashes of clarity interwoven with the heat; somehow she knew that these brief moments of something - _someone_ - peeking through meant more than the whole.

Which one was the Clark that was heading towards her now? In her dreams he had been nameless, as though he were fragmented and one name alone did not fit; the seductive curl of his lips did not match the tenderness in his eyes just as the way he drove blindly into her did not match the soft touch of his fingers against her skin.

She squeezed her thighs together in an attempt to quell the heat that had risen in response to the memory and her breath hitched as his deep, green eyes fashed through her mind again.

A key jangled loudly in the lock to the front door, Lois jumped and threw herself down onto the sofa snagging a magazine en route, desperate to appear nonchalant when they came in. The door opened behind her and her eye twitched as distinctly male energy immediately wove its way to her, filling her senses with him; she didn't even have to turn to know he was standing mere feet away from her, and staring at her in a way he never had as Kal El.

"Hey, Chlo." she cheered inwardly as her voice emerged completely calm and unflustered as she continued to pretend to read the magazine.

"Hi, Lois," Lois' fingers tightened on the glossy paper as Chloe appeared in her peripheral vision, the tall, dark figure that followed dwarfing her, "Uh, Lois, why are you reading upside down?"

Lois blinked as she realised that her nonchalance prop had betrayed her, dammit! "Oh, the fashions make more sense this way!" She continued to leaf through the pages, refusing steadfastly to look up... at him...

"Lois, I'd like you to meet Clark, the complete Clark."

Lois' eyes snapped up and she immediately regretted it when her gaze zeroed in on his as he gazed unblinkingly at her. It took her a few seconds to get her mouth to work, "Uh, n-nice to meet you." She turned to Chloe who was sporting an amused smirk, "Complete?"

"It's a long story, one that we will tell you once we all have a cup of coffee in our hands. I'll be right back!" And with that she headed into the kitchen, leaving the two alone in silence.

Lois felt her fingernails tearing into the pages as she fought not to look at him. He moved to sit in an armchair directly facing her and she swallowed, the last time she had seen him playing vividly in her mind and wreaking havoc on her nerves.

"So!" She made herself jump with the shrillness of her tone, "You found your sign then?"

He tilted his chin down and gazed steadily at her, "Yes I did."

"Good! Great!" Chloe returned with the coffees and Lois almost kissed her.

"There's no easy way to explain all this, Lois." Chloe sipped at her coffee as she settled on the opposite end of the sofa to Lois, letting the caffeine give her the energy she knew she'd need for the oncoming emotional onslaught.

Lois' brows creased, "Explain what exactly?"

"Everything." Clark's deep voice was steady, strong and Chloe silently thanked him and his new-found confidence in himself.

"Okay..."

To his surprise Clark's gaze didn't waver from Lois' face as Chloe told her everything, about his true nature, about his abilities, about how Kal El was not a persona but an actual part of himself. His heart slammed erratically against his breast bone as he struggled to maintain the cool facade he had managed to erect, Lois' gaze was fixed on him, her eyes penetrating him and peering into his soul. He swallowed as the first nervous bead of sweat broke out on his forehead and trickled down his temple.

She hadn't said anything since Chloe began explaining in earnest, merely looked at him, not stared, not wide-eyed in panic, not reaching for the pepper spray he knew she kept in her bag, just looked. He blinked as she rose to her feet, cutting Chloe off mid-sentence, to approach him. He rose to meet her and fought back his innate shyness as she reached up to touch his face lightly. She gazed up into his face for a long moment before speaking,

"What was the sign?"

Clark swallowed, she'd taken in so much already, was she ready to hear what he was desperate to share with her?

"Lois..."

"What was it?"

"Please... not yet..."

"Clark."

His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest as it tripped all over itself, he couldn't tell her yet, she didn't even know him, she knew Kal El, "Not like this..."

Her grip on his face tightened and she clenched her teeth, "What. Is. The. Sign?"

He dropped his gaze from hers and whispered, "You."


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I'm sorry if the story flows a little strangely; FFnet won't let me put in paragraph breaks. grr...**

**Chapter 8**

Lois' eyes barely focused on the road ahead of her, she knew she should stop driving and take a moment to let it all sink in but she couldn't unlock her foot from it's position on the accelerator; she had to put some distance between her and the... man? Alien? Freak? What the hell was he to her?

As she drove back towards Chloe's house her thoughts were a complete muddle; the man she could feel herself developing feelings towards was an alien. A super-powered alien. The shock she felt was expected, the lack of revulsion not so. Why wasn't she weirded out? She should be running screaming shouldn't she? She was doing neither, in fact she was more concerned about the fact that her heart was still slamming it's way through her sternum because of the way he watched her not because of what she now knew.

She blinked and forced the road to come back into focus as her foot began to slacken off the gas slightly.

The next thing she knew, the car was rolling through a field and she saw her life flash before her eyes an instant before everything went dark.

Chloe watched her old friend as he paced restlessly as he had done since Lois had left an hour ago, his hands repeatedly pulling his hair off his forehead. The newly discovered calm, collected confidence had vanished the second Lois had closed the front door behind her, a slightly bewildered glaze to her eyes.

"She thinks I'm a freak."

Chloe's heart went out to him, she knew that if no-one else could accept him for what he was he wouldn't care, but Lois had to, she just had to.

"She doesn't think you're a freak, Clark."

He wrung his hands together, picked up a picture of himself with his parents, put it back down and resumed his pacing.

"What am I going to do?"

"Give her a little time to absorb it all. We dumped a lot on her, Clark, despite what she'd have us all believe she's still human; she just needs a little space to get to grips with it.

"What if she- what if she's scared? God, Chloe," he stopped and faced her, his eyes wide with panic, "What if she's afraid of me?" He sank down onto the sofa, his knees unable to hold him as the horrific thought dragged his heart down into his boots. "I would never- I could never hurt her, I could never hurt anyone." He trailed off and looked wildly around the room, searching for something, anything to reassure himself that he was in fact dreaming and this wasn't happening, that the possible love of his had just run screaming from him.

Chloe went to him, took his hands in hers and forced him to look her in the eye, "Clark, she knows. Have faith, she'll come back to you."

He took a deep, calming breath and began to speak, but his face suddenly fell slack as his gaze fixed on nothing.

"Clark?" Chloe shook his shoulder, and after a long moment, he locked wide eyes on her, cold, terrified panic all over his face, his voice hoarse with fear.

"Lois!"

Pag Or dumped his burden unceremoniously on the ground and stretched his tight muscles, it was great to be free! His freedom from the Phantom Zone had been an abrupt and unexpected pleasure, and as soon as he had wreaked his revenge he would explore this new world where he had the power of a god.

His arrival had dropped him in the middle of a stretch of road where a vehicle was barreling towards him; a swipe of his hand and the car flew from the road to spin in the air and come to rest in a nearby field. Looking down at his hands in astonishment, he had approached the vehicle sensing that the occupant was still alive. And then his second treat of the day had occurred: his telepathy had picked up whispers of Kal El on the woman's wavering thoughts just before she completely lost consciousness. He had grinned as he plucked her from the destroyed vehicle, what better way to exact his revenge than on the son of the bastard who had sent him to the Phantom Zone?

A quick probe of her mind before she went blank caused another grin to jump onto his face; this just got better and better, this female was the lover of Kal El!

Choosing a destination to stage his confrontation with the son of Jor El, Pag Or felt a strange resonance off to the East. Cocking his head, he let it fill him for a second and a slow smirk split his face, what better place to kill Kal El than the chambers meant for him? Pag Or cackled and sped off towards the Kowache caves deep below Smallville.

Making sure the female was still alive and that his weapon was ready, Pag Or sent out a telepathic message to Kal El, demanding his presence - the death of his lover being the consequence of disobeyance.

A gust of wind caused Pag Or to turn - the son of Jor El was powerful indeed, that was faster than he himself! - and he looked into the enraged eyes of the one being capable of sating Pag Or's thirst for vengeance. The younger man's gaze flicked to the unconscious woman and Pag Or could have sworn that his eyes glowed for a second.

"I don't know who you are, but you're going to pay for hurting her." Kal El's voice was hard, furious, uncompromising, and Pag Or smirked, this was going to be a good death.

"You are welcome to try, son of Jor El, but I have waited a very long time for this. the son will pay for the actions of the father."

Clark took a step towards the Zoner and abruptly stopped as something tickled at the edges of his mind. He fixed the older man with a withering look,

"What are you doing?"

Pag Or's smirk faltered slightly, this mental attack had floored countless Kryptonians - it was the reason he'd been sent to the Zone in the first place - so why was this one unaffected? Had Jor El given the boy some sort of spell to ward him off? He pushed harder and saw the boy stumble slightly, but he was still coming towards him, murderous intent shining in his unnaturally green eyes.

Clark felt the presence in his mind and pushed back, he would not be stopped, he had to get to Lois, get her to safety. He saw the Zoner go for something in his pocket and when he withdrew his hand, Clark cried out as a jolt of pain suddenly lanced through him and the Zoner penetrated his mind fully.

Pag Or blinked as the boy fell to his knees, large hands grasping futilely at his head. He looked down at the small item in his hand and smirked, realising what had happened. Somehow the rock he had picked up in the same field he retrieved the woman from was affecting Kal El, lowering his defenses and thus allowing Pag Or full access to his mind. Pag Or pushed the dark slivers of thought into Kal El's young, unprotected mind and the child cried out again hoarsely, falling onto his side in the dirt and curling into a tight ball as his mind was torn apart from the inside out.

Chloe sped down the road as fast as Clark's truck would go. Clark had sped out of the house in such a hurry, his blind panic driving him, that he hadn't seen her race out after him, grabbing his keys en route. Something was pulling her inexorably towards the Kowache caves, and she had a sneaking suspicion it had everything to do with her temporary possession by Lara Jor El.

Clark was in world of pain, he'd never felt anything like this before as every time he tried to focus his thoughts to mount some sort of defense, the Zoner would drive acid into his mind. He was starting to fit, his body reacting to the intrusion the only way it knew how, and he vaguely heard through the pain the Zoner's satisfied cackle as well as his booming mental projection that rang in his ears that he was going to die and then his lover would follow.

As he thrashed on the ground, his mind beginning to splinter, Clark focused his last remaining piece of sanity on Lois and how sorry he was that his alien nature had brought this upon her.

Chloe crept unseen into the caves, her 'Reporter's Sneak' serving her well. Making her way over to her cousin, she held her hand out towards a painted wall; a small crystal materialised and sped towards her outstretched palm. Not questioning what Lara was doing, Chloe grabbed it and moved it over Lois' prone form, healing and reviving her. As lois began to wake up, Chloe kept her gaze fixed on the Zoner, he was so preoccupied with torturing Clark that he had no awareness of what was going on behind him.

Pag Or was having the time of his life, who knew revenge could be so sweet? As the boy writhed at his feet, Pag Or pulled back his heavily booted foot and slammed it into Kal El's side; the son of Jor El went flying into the opposite wall with a loud crunch - no doubt breaking lots of bones, excellent! - before slumping to the floor, still fitting. A cackle bubbling merrily from his throat, Pag Or advanced on the boy, fully intending to finish him off by physical means when a bright light suddenly flooded the cavern. Pag Or looked around, trying to see where it was coming from, and in the split second that he relented in his attack on the boy, the connection was severed and a wall slammed into place around his mind. Pag Or whirled back on Kal El when he realised that he could no longer feel him to find him struggling to his feet, a strange glow in his eyes and to his absolute horror, the crest of the house of El appeared on the boy's chest and he fixed the weird, green gaze on the ex-Zoner.

"Game over, Pag Or." The voice that emerged from his lips was a harmonious blend of the child's and the one voice he fervently hoped he'd never hear again: the voice of Jor El, "This time you're staying in the Zone."

Pag Or refused to belive that he had lost, "You may be protected by the pitiful spirit of your father, Boy, but what about her?!" He whirled and pointed to where Lois had been. He jerked back in surprise when he saw that she was gone; sending out a mental probe he blinked, "Where is she? Why can't I sense her?"

"Like I said." Kal El advanced, and Pag Or began to feel fear. He backed away. "Game over." In a flash, Kal El was upon him, his strength far superior than Pag Or's and as he slapped a crystal - where had that come from? - against the Zoner's chest, Pag Or howled in impotent fury as the Zone quickly reclaimed him, leaving Kal El standing alone in the middle of the cave.

Clark closed his eyes and swayed as he felt the power leave him as abruptly as it had come. A murmur of, "Thank you, Father." and he passed out, falling bonelessly to the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

**Magnetism **

**Chapter 9**

Chloe pressed a cool compress to Clark's forehead, trying desperately to bring down his raging fever as his eyes rolled around in their sockets behind closed lids, his lips murmuring words in a foreign tongue. He had fallen unconscious as soon as he had defeated the Zoner and had not awoken since. She and Lois had managed to man handle him from the caves, into his truck and bring him back to their house where they wrestled his large, heavy, deadweight form onto the sofa. Once they had him secured on the sofa, Lois had disappeared outside, leaving Chloe with the usually enviable task - if not for the current circumstances - of stripping Clark Kent down to his underwear. Ten struggled minutes later the job was done and she threw a light blanket over him.

She and Lois had never left the caves during the whole confrontation between Clark and Pag Or. They had ducked for cover as soon as Lois was conscious again and watched from the shadows as Clark had abruptly surged to his feet and set upon the Zoner, a glowing 'S' shaped symbol appearing on his chest as he did so. Chloe had stared unblinkingly at him and had only just noticed her cousin stiffen in shock beside her; she had begun to ask what was wrong, but the fight between Clark and the Zoner was over so quickly that she didn't have chance, and the next thing they knew they were dragging his unconscious form out into the fresh air.

Clark finally settled, his murmurs fading as he fell into a deep slumber and Chloe sighed with relief as she checked his temperature again; it was still too high but he was out of the woods. Cooling the cloth again and draping it across his brow, Chloe stood and headed outside in search of her cousin. She found her sitting underneath the oak tree in the front garden, her arms draped over bent knees and her gaze fixed contemplatively on Clark's bright red truck.

"I think he's going to be alright." Chloe sat down next to her cousin.

"Oh good..."

"Are _you_ going to be alright?"

"Huh?" Her gaze was still fixed on the truck, her absent answer a signpost to the fact that she wasn't really listening.

"Still taking it all in, huh?"

Lois finally turned to her, "What?"

"All the stuff about Clark, you know, the Krypton factor and all that."

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Lois went back to staring at the truck, thankful that Chloe had an erroneous reason to satisfy her curiosity for now. She didn't think Chloe could handle what she was really thinking without running back into the house to play matchmaker. What was actually playing on her mind was the frighteningly familiar symbol that had appeared on Clark's chest as he fought the Zoner. She had been plagued by the same recurring dream for months now, the guy in the red cape who would appear and turn her insides to mush as he took her in his arms and did things to her that she would be lucky to experience in real life. His face had always been vague and indistinct, but she knew he had dark hair and full lips, and the symbol on his chest was identical to the one that had blazoned itself across Clark's chest in the caves. Shutting her eyes and leaning her head back against the tree, she superimposed Clark's face onto her mystery man's body and felt her heart freeze in her chest as her fears were confirmed: it fit.

It was him.

Of all the...

Her dream lover was Clark-I-have-so-much-plaid-it-burns-my-eyes Kent. Her flying, super-powered, red-caped, knee-shakingly gorgeous dream lover was Clark Kent.

But what did that mean? Were her dreams merely playing on the increasingly sexual tension that had been steadily building between them, or were they giving her a sign? She opened her eyes and looked at the truck again, debating what the hell it all meant. She wasn't a great believer in destiny, but thinking back to Clark's reaction to her interpretation of the cave paintings when he was Kal El, she realised with a jolt that she may not have a choice. Anger boiled through her at the realisation, some dead alien race did not have the right to tell her who she could and could not love, who she should be with. So what if she was beginning to develop some hard-core feelings for their last son? She'd just have to fight them.

Lois Lane did NOT follow orders.

.&.

"_Lois_...?"

"No, Clark, it's me." Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as Clark finally woke up, the quiet murmur of her cousin's name music to her ears, "How do you feel?"

Clark groaned and slowly opened his eyes, squinting as even the dim light made them sting, "Ugh... Like a tanker full of kryptonite ran over me, backed up and parked on my head." He struggled into a somewhat seated position with a little support from Chloe, "What happened?"

"You kicked some major ass!" Chloe slapped a hand over her mouth as he winced from the volume of her voice, "Sorry. We were talking, you ran off to rescue Lois, and-"

"Oh my God, Lois!" He bolted upright as if to jump off the sofa, but immediately clutched weakly at his head with a moan and lay back down again, "Oh dear God, that hurt... Is she alright?"

Chloe smiled and placed her hand over his, "She's fine, she was pretty battered by the time I got to the caves, but a friend of yours lent a hand."

Clark frowned, "A friend?"

"Your mother."

Clark's eyes shot wide open as his mouth flapped uselessly. "M-my mother? How?"

"You tell me. I guess she must have sensed through me that your 'Destined' was in danger and helped us while Jor El helped you."

Clark frowned as his memory slowly returned, he hadn't even seen Chloe at the cave, "Wait, how did you know he helped me?"

Chloe grimaced, "Clark, you were down and the zoner was beating seven shades of crap out of you, there was no way you could have done what you did without a little help from Jor El." She smirked, "Besides, the Team El logo shining from the middle of your chest was a bit of a give away.."

Clark smiled weakly and took a deep breath, bracing himself for the next exchange, "How did Lois take it all?"

"I hate to say this, but I don't really know. She's been really subdued ever since we got back; she says she's still taking it all in, but I know damn well there's something else that she's not telling me."

He struggled to hold it back as he tried to reply but a mighty yawn stretched his face and Chloe smiled softly, "Clark, you're exhausted, get some sleep, I'll come check on you in a bit."

"But Lois-"

"Will come to you when she's ready. She does everything on her own terms, Clark, she won't be told when to do something."

"I know," a small smile graced his tired face as his eyelids drifted shut, "That's why I," he yawned again and snuggled down into the sofa, "why I..." He was so tired he couldn't even finish the earth shattering sentence before sleep claimed him.

Chloe gazed down at his slumbering form with a surprised smile, she hadn't expected this turn of events at all; he had revealed his attraction to her fiery cousin while he was Kal El, but she had had no idea that it ran this deep. Lara had whispered into her mind that her son and Chloe's kin were destined to be together, that their polar opposites made them the perfect balance of yin and yang. Chloe had doubted the alien intelligence, but as the words mumbled forth from the horse's mouth itself she found herself wondering what the hell Lois-I'm-so-independant-don't-you-dare-try-to-tell-me-anything-Lane would be making of it all, if in fact she knew. Thinking back on Lois' preoccupied countenance in the back yard, Chloe realised that yes she did know; and not only did she know, she reciprocated Clark's feelings, and she was doing her damndest to fight them.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N This is it folks, finale time! I'm sorry it's taken so long but meh, what can you do? I hope you've all enjoyed the ride and thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

**Magnetism**

**Chapter 10**

Lois paced the length of the barn, her hands rubbing at her arms in an attempt to stave off the chill of the early autumn evening. She could have gone up to her room and got a jacket, but she hadn't been back into the house since leaving Clark there earlier and she had absolutely no intention of returning there any time soon. She'd sleep out here tonight if she had to, she wasn't going anywhere near the comatose Kent.

"Hey, Lois."

The soft voice sounded behind her and she jumped, damn it, make that the not-so-comatose Kent.

"H-Hi." She fought not to roll her eyes at her own lameness, so much for being unaffected by him.

He smiled softly, the warm colours of the setting sun bathing him in a cosy glow, "Are you okay?"

"_Yeah!" _This time she did roll her eyes as her voice sounded at at least three octaves above normal. She broke his concerned gaze and took a few steps away from him, "I just... I'm a little thrown that's all."

"Why?"

The gentle concern in his voice soothed her shredded nerves somewhat and encouraged her to push forwards, "It's just, all that talk of destiny in the cave when you weren't quite all there," she tapped her temple and quirked a half-hearted smirk, "and now I realise that you're the man from my recurring dream, I guess I just don't know where we stand, or what to do with myself." She plopped down onto a bench, "I've never really been one to believe in destiny but it seems inevitable." She picked up a wrench and twiddled with it, anything to keep from gazing up into his eyes.

"Me neither." He sat down next to her and watched the wrench as it tumbled skillfully between her fingers, "At least I don't want to." He thought back on his defiance of Jor El and the consequences that defiance had prompted. "I believe that I can carve my own history into the walls of that cave, alongside what my father had intended for me; there's no reason why we can't control our own fate, otherwise what's the point of free will?"

Taking courage from his words, Lois finally looked up and met his eyes. There was desire smouldering in their green depths definitely, but there was also determination, strength and a will to be stronger than the future laid out for him.

"My father took me, trained me, told me of the purpose of my being sent here, but he forgot one thing."

Lois swallowed, "What was that?"

Reaching out tentatively, Clark touched her jaw lightly, "I am my father's son," Leaning forward slowly, his gaze went to her lips and his voice lowered to a husk, "I feel." Encountering no resistance to his slow advance, he closed the gap between them and touched his lips to hers.

Lois gasped in surprise at the warmth that flooded her from the simple touch of lips against hers. It was a chaste kiss and he quickly withdrew, leaving her lips tingling and a warm pool gathering in her belly.

"I won't push you, Lois," his voice was nothing more than a whisper, a gentle caress of his mouth against the air but it sounded like a foghorn in her ears, "but I want you to know all the facts before you make a decision." He paused and took a steadying breath before continuing, "I am falling in love with you, of that I have no doubt," she gasped again, her teeth latching onto her lower lip, but she remained silent, allowing him to say his peace, "but it has nothing to do with what my father intended for me. His intention was to make me into a defender of the planet he grew so fond of, of the planet he and my mother saw so much potential in, and I have every intention of carrying out his wishes in that respect;" His eyes hardened, "but I will not be told who I can and cannot love." He gazed deeply into her eyes, "When my father visited this planet he became deeply involved with one of Lana's ancestors; I believe that the 'Fated' he referred to in the cave paintings was actually Lana, that in his eyes, our coupling would provide some sort of cosmic continuity." He watched her absorb the information and then dropped his bombshell, "But the fact of the matter is that it was you who saw what the symbol meant; Lana has been down to those caves hundreds of times and she's never realised what it meant."

Her eyes widened, "But, that would mean..."

Clark pushed on, his heart beating a mile a minute, "Chloe told me that when Lara was acting through her, she told her that it was you who would be my balance, not Lana. Jor El left the messages as a set of instructions, there was no destiny involved." He took her hands and looked deeply into her eyes, "I may not believe in destiny, but I believe in what I feel."

Lois gulped at the intensity in his eyes, he wasn't kidding. She couldn't do this, she couldn't be worthy of him, of what he was offering; she took a breath and prepared to shoot herself in the foot, "Clark, look I-"

He cut her off, didn't give her the chance, "Lois, I love you."

Lois' heart stopped dead in her chest. Up 'til now had been all talk, discussion on the nature of fate, speculation on a deeper emotion that existed only in her imagination; but hearing the words made it real. Her heart re-started with a thud and she went weak all over, "Oh God."

"If you can't feel the same then I'll accept that, I just wanted you to know; this has nothing to do with my destiny and everything to do with... with..." he trailed off as her mouth twitched, her lower lip becoming tremulous. His eyes widened and he rushed to soothe her, "Lois, Lois I'm sorry, Jesus," he gathered her into a hug, her small form enveloped within his huge arms, "I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm sorry, I-I'll go." Extricating himself from her, inch by aching inch, he pulled free and stood to leave. He looked at her, burning the image of her onto his retinas, then fled the barn.

.&.

Chloe approached the barn with cautiion; once she'd managed to stop Clark's gibbering enough to get what had happened out of him, she'd set off to mend her cousin, and to fix this whole ridiculous situation.

"Lois?"

The name echoed around the barn and Chloe gravitated towards the answering sniffles. Finding her broken cousin hunched over on a bench, she sat next to her and draped an arm around her. Lois immediately grabbed her in a tight hug and began talking, her words spewing forth so quickly into Chloe's jumper that they almost became one,

"Oh God, Chloe, what am I going to do? He loves me... Jesus, he _loves_ me... and I think I love him too, but he's so powerful and untouchable and he has this amazing destiny all laid out for him and all I'm good for is talking too much and winding him up, how could I possibly be worthy of that? I always say that the guy I eventually fall for will be perfect, and he _is_ perfect, how do I deal with that? I'm all talk, he's all action, how is that supposed to work? Oh God, I _do_ love him, Chloe what do I do?" She looked up at Chloe with large, watery eyes and Chloe smiled softly,

"You could try talking to him. You're very good at that as I recall."

"I can't."

Chloe frowned, confused, "Why not? Surely you're not scared of him?"

"I can't because..." she squirmed and Chloe did a double take, she actually squirmed! "I can't because now I know how he feels and I know how I feel, all I want to do is kiss him."

Chloe smirked, "Then kiss him!" Amazing, only Lois Lane could make a mountain out of a mole-hill when it came to the opposite sex. She stood, dragging Lois with her and headed back to the farm house, this had gone on long enough. Once she got through the front door, she felt Lois go stiff in her grasp as Clark came into view; he likewise locked eyes on Lois and went completely still. Chloe valiantly fought back an irritated grimace and pointed at Clark, "You. Go to your room." Clark blinked at the order but once he saw the fire in Chloe's eyes, did as he was told and bolted up the stairs. Dragging Lois to the kitchen, Chloe thrust a glass of water into her hand and commanded, "Drink." Lois had reverted to a child-like mode and followed instruction. Once the water was gone, Chloe grabbed her again and dragged her towards the stairs; Lois jolted back to reality,

"Where are we going?"

"To sort this out, you two are giving me a headache." Fueled by righteousness, Chloe found the strength to force her physically superior cousin up the stairs and into Clark's room where he was obediently waiting. When the two women entered the room, he shot to his feet from where he had been perched on the edge of his bed. Depositing Lois in the room and putting herself between them and the door, Chloe said, "You two will work this out right now. Clark you love Lois, Lois you love Clark," the latter's eyes flew to the former's in surprise, "this really isn't rocket science. Now, I'm locking the two of you in here until you sort through whatever is making this so insanely difficult." With a parting grin and a flourish, Chloe slammed the door shut behind her and turned the key in the lock.

They looked at each other nervously for a long moment before Clark took the plunge and shattered the silence with little more than a murmur, "You love me?" He couldn't keep the wonder from his voice.

Lois blinked, unable to form a coherent response just yet, she was still absorbing it herself.

Clark, emboldened by this new knowledge, crossed the room to her and took her face in his hands, "Do you?"

She blinked again and took a breath, words still failing her. Gazing up into his eyes, she lost herself in the moment of suspense as the room dissolved around them until all she was aware of was Clark and his hands on her face. She swallowed and slowly tilted her face up to his, actions succeeding where words failed as she captured his soft, full lips in a slow, tender, exploratory kiss.

Clark sucked in a heated breath as Lois kissed him and struggled not to immediately deepen it, he had accepted the way he felt towards her weeks ago but she was still adapting, he had to let her set the pace or risk scaring her off forever.

Forever; that had a nice ring to it.

Lois slowly let the heat of him penetrate her through their joined lips and as she stepped closer, bringing their bodies flush together, she pulled in a breath, his scent filling her senses and sending them reeling as she finally gave in to what was clawing at her gut. Threading her fingers into his hair in a deceptively tender gesture, she pulled his head roughly closer and thrilled in his pleasured growl as he intensified the kiss, his tongue thrusting between her lips as they parted eagerly for him.

Clark groaned as she pushed further into his embrace, pressing her breasts against his chest and rubbing against the rapidly hardening length in his trousers. His arms came fully about her and he pulled her off her feet to toss her down on the bed, quickly following to stretch out on top of her, one thigh slipping between hers as he re-captured her lips.

Lois' head was spinning as her heart threatened to burst from her chest, this felt so right, why had she been fighting so hard against it? A large hand slipped under her t-shirt and she gasped as masculine fingers glided up smooth skin towards her breasts which were straining against their restraint, longing to be free. He obliged and she moaned into his mouth as he gently cupped and teased their softness, the combined heat of his hand and softness of her clothing quickening her pulse as a bolt of heat shot through her.

Clark tried to steady his breathing as a small, feminine hand crept under his shirt to trace the taut muscles of his back; the hand slipped between them to reach into his trousers and he tore his mouth free to groan, open-mouthed into her neck as she gently fingered his satiny length. Suddenly both hands were pushing against his chest and he rolled, allowing her to move atop him. Straddling his hips, her eyes locked on his, she smiled, a wide, genuine smile and his heart soared, she didn't need words, he knew. Sitting up to kiss her happily, he was soon swamped by the heat of the moment and literally tore her clothes away from her with a growl until she was gloriously naked. She broke the kiss, pushed him back down, put her hands on her hips and smirked down at him, "This is hardly fair." He grinned and lifted her from her position, slipped out from under her and stood where she could see him slowly dispense of his own clothing.

Propping herself up on one elbow, Lois licked her lips as he slowly stripped for her, each movement exposing more and more deliciously solid, muscled body. Once he was as naked as she and stood before her, fire blazing in his eyes and muscles jumping in his jaw, she rose onto her knees and beckoned to him.

.&.

Chloe exited the hallway area with a grin as soon as the soft moans and heated growls began filtering through the door. She went downstairs to grab a cup of tea to soothe her stretched nerves and was just pouring the hot water into the teapot when rhythmic thumping sounded through the ceiling. Putting down the kettle, she threw a half-disgusted glance at the ceiling and tried to ignore it, she really wanted this tea. She had just managed to filter out the sounds when a loud feminine cry made her jump and spill tea all over the table top, "Damn it." She began mopping up the mess while drinking the remainder of her tea when another cry, this time male, broke through the ceiling,

"_Ungh!_ Oh God, Lois!"

Chloe snorted tea everywhere, dropped her cup and raced from the house, her fingers wedged firmly in her ears.

She did not need to hear that!

**FIN**


End file.
